Mt. Pleasant?s Poet Laureate

?Mt. Pleasant's Emily Dickinson? might work just as well as a title for Mary Zachmeyer, although she would never lay claim to such a moniker. She may be one of Mt. Pleasant's best kept secrets. Somewhat a recluse, Zachmeyer writes, fusses with her dog, Marlis, writes, plays with her grandchildren, and writes some more.

?I LAY here listening to buzzing locusts, trees clapping in the wind, even the splash of the river rushes up the hill and seems to touch my resting place.? This is the opening stanza of a Zachmeyer poem that won grand prize in the Master's Poetry Competition in Lewistown, Illinois, for 2015, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the Fulton County Arts Council. Zachmeyer has entered this contest several years in a row, but never won until now.

Compare to, ?I heard a Fly buzz - when I died - The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air - Between the Heaves of Storm -? by Emily Dickinson.

In her 70s, Zachmeyer has had a well-traveled, sometimes difficult, sometimes euphoric life. She has known happiness, she has known pain and loneliness. Of all this she writes?poetry, short stories, children?s stories. With her husband and five children, she has lived in Germany, Mexico, and all over the United States. Born in Burlington, and raised by her grandmother, she has seen the untimely death of her husband and one son.

Zachmeyer writes, ?Her body lies like a shell on a barren beach, bones under balloon-thin flesh. Her eyes never blink, stare at me as though I've chanted a diatribe of four-letter words. Once they were crystalline as a lake. I stepped within those eyes, saw the world, believed in their blueness. Now they fall into flesh beyond sleep or peace.?

Zachmeyer has been a columnist in Norfolk, Nebraska, and for the Mt. Pleasant News. She has self-published quite a number of books, ranging from poetry, to short stories, to children?s stories. Currently, Quixote Press, in Wever, Iowa, is publishing two of her books (at their expense), one of poetry, the other a children?s story. If we're lucky, she may do a reading and book signing.

From one of Zachmeyer's short stories, ?Writing Saved My Life?: ?With hands gnarled in arthritis, she held her fountain pen as if she were holding an injured bird.? ?Writing in those scrubby little pages gave me a friend who listened, often gave answers, and accepted me unconditionally.?

Zachmeyer has been published in ?Spindrift Echoes,? ?Midwest Poetry Review,? ?Northeast Nebraska Writers Anniversary? booklet, ?Stand Forth,? ?St. Anthony Messenger,? ?Poetry Press,? ?Writers on the Avenue Anthology,? and many, many more.

I'm not sure?I'm certainly no poetry expert, although I do have a degree in English, so have read my share?but Zachmeyer may have developed a new style of poetry. The new form is scattered hither and yon throughout her work, like a fresh scent on a morning breeze.

Dickinson died pretty much undiscovered and unrecognized, which may have been her preference. Zachmeyer would probably agree with Dickinson that ?Fame is a fickle food, Upon a shifting plate, Whose table once a Guest but not, The second time is set.?

Zachmeyer scoffs at the idea of being called Mt. Pleasant's poet laureate. But there's a twinkle in her eye.

Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526 or email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com. Curt also reads his columns at www.lostlakeradio.com.